Let's Begin Again
by Emmaliene
Summary: Sarah receives two important letters in the span of a five days. One changes everything suddenly, and the other just encourages further letters. SarahxJareth


Sarah woke with a start, the only thing she could remember from her dream, or was it a nightmare, was a pair of mismatched eyes and the soft way _his_ voice said her name just before she told him he had no power over her. _Fear me, love me_. She shivered at the thought and threw the covers off herself, getting out of bed and stretching her sleepy muscles. Sarah glanced at the clock as it flicked over from six twenty nine to six thirty and her alarm started to beep at her uncontrollably. "Yes yes, I know it's time to get up." She muttered as she hit it on the off button and headed for the bathroom to get into the shower. It was two years, almost to the day, since Sarah had beaten the Labyrinth, and the Labyrinth's master. The image of a pair of the labyrinth's master popped into her mind before she could even consider banishing it. She faltered for a moment before returning to the task of showering.

So much had changed in the last two years. She'd long since decided her biological mother, Linda as she now knew her, wasn't worth all the time and effort she was putting in. Sure she kept in touch, but she had long since stopped idolizing her, the photographs that once covered her walls and mirror long since removed and replaced with her own adventures and dreams. Sarah had stopped pushing her step mother, Irene, away and had instead embraced her. She found that she was a fantastic woman and a better mother than Linda had ever been. The realisation had dawned on her, thanks to his mighty gobliness, that she'd been a complete brat to Irene and she decided to turn the tables, she took to taking care of Toby like a fish to water and made an effort to argue with Irene less.

After showering and slipping into a casual outfit for school (a long loose black t-shirt pulled in at the waist with a brown belt, paired with a pair of tan capris and an amazingly soft pair of black mid-calf leather boots that may or may not have been influenced by a certain goblin king) she pulled her damp hair into a ponytail and headed down the stairs for breakfast with her family. Toby sat in a high chair while her Dad was feeding him and Irene was finishing off cooking something on the stove. Sarah kissed Toby on his chubby cheek as she sat down in the seat beside his.

"Sarah!" Toby grinned and reached out to his beloved older sister before his father encouraged him to eat some more of the scrambled eggs on his plate.

Irene turned from the stove, frying pan in hand and frilly apron in place, "Morning Sarah, would you like some eggs?"

"Oh, I'm tempted, what do you think Tobes?"

"Sarah have eggs!" He cried in delight, accidentally throwing a piece of egg from his small fist in her direction which Sarah deftly caught and put back on his plate.

"Guess I'm having eggs then, thanks Mom." Irene kissed Toby on the top of his head before scooping some eggs onto the plate that sat before Sarah. Sarah grabbed a piece of toast from the rack in the middle of the table and stacked all the egg carefully on top of the toast before mushing another piece of toast above it, making a toast sandwich.

"Oh by the way Sarah, there's a letter here for you." Her father handed her an envelope with her name on it in scrawling script that made her heart leap. She hadn't seen anything written in such a way in a long while. Ever since the letter she received in her diary on her sixteenth birthday.

* * *

Sarah opened her diary to write about her birthday at the end of the day and when she came to the page that she planned to write on she found an elegant silver envelope with her name written on it. Her heart beat furiously someone had been in her diary and that someone had left a letter with her name on it in her diary. She decided not to put off finding out who would dare and moved to her desk to open said letter and read it.

 _Dear Sarah,_

 _Today you are sixteen. You have changed so much and yet so little. It has been a hard few months for me to watch from a distance. I hope you have not decided that what we shared did not exist, I am in fact quite sure that you haven't, seeing as my figurine is still sitting on your desk, quite probably staring at you as you read this letter._

Sarah looked up and saw the Goblin King figurine staring at her and frowned.

 _And now you're frowning. It has been many months since we last spoke, but I wanted to clear a few things up between us. When we parted I said many things, and I am sure you thought I was only saying those things to win. I was not. When I asked, no begged, you to fear me and love me, I meant it. When you came to the underground with the aim to get your brother back I honestly wasn't surprised. There was a fire and a passion behind your eyes that lead me to believe that that is exactly what you would do._

Sarah snorted at this but continued to read.

 _At this point I was intrigued, then you befriended the dwarf who had managed to be unstirred by friendship for at least a century. He still speaks of you now by the way, and is always looking for a chance to come see you, even if you cannot see him. When I gave him the peach to give to you I had to threaten him severely to get him to give you it._

"Flipping hallucinogenic peaches," Sarah muttered darkly.

 _I did have ulterior motives for giving you the peach, other than wanting to win, I also wanted a chance to toy with you and perhaps get to know you a little. I will admit to rolling time back to allow us more time in that dream, while according to the clock we were only in there for an hour, we were in fact in there for a total of four hours twenty three minutes and seven seconds of bliss until you broke the spell and woke up. In this time, I found myself wanting no, needing to spend time with you as I do now._

 _We miss you Precious._

 _Happy Birthday_

 _Sincerely_

 _Jareth_

 _King of the Goblins_

Sitting on her desk next to her Goblin King figurine was a matching Sarah figurine in the gown she'd been wearing in the peach induced ballroom dream. For the first time in a long time Sarah was speechless.

* * *

Sarah hastily tucked the envelope into her school bag before she began eating her eggs. "Not going to open it Sarah dear?" Her father asked, one eyebrow raised in question.

Sarah's mouth was full so she simply shook her head and smiled, swallowing the mouth full of food quickly she answered, "I need to eat and then head off, don't have time to open it right now. I'm catching up with Gloria on my way in to school, we're walking together so we can talk about the weekend."

Sarah's father was about to push for more information when Irene put her hand on his shoulder, "Oh leave her be, she's allowed to not tell you everything, although." She grinned at this, "I expect to hear details later Sarah."

"Sarah secwet!" Toby cried excitedly as he threw another piece of egg.

After finishing her breakfast Sarah grabbed her lunch which she'd prepared the day before from the refrigerator, kissed her parents and Toby on the cheek before running out the door to get to the point they had planned to meet at the afternoon before. As she reached the great chestnut tree half way between their houses she came to a halt bending at the waist and leaning against the tree to catch her breath. She removed her bag from of her shoulder and peered in at the contents, mainly the silver envelope from earlier. Her fingers brushed against the edge of it as a voice called from above her, "You're late!"

Sarah rolled her eyes at the dramatic call of her friend, "A Sarah is never late, nor is she early!"

"She arrives precisely when she means to!" They finished together as they embraced each other. The other girl was an inch taller than Sarah, and a few inches rounder at the hip. Also, where Sarah was pale with dark hair, Gloria had dark tan skin dark eyes and if it was even possible, darker hair than Sarah. The two girls linked arms as Sarah picked up her bag and slung it back over her shoulder and they began the walk in comfortable conversation.

Sarah and Gloria met in Kindergarten and were in the same class from then on, but it wasn't until Sarah came back from the event to challenge all events that the two connected and Sarah realised that she wasn't ever truly alone. The two had bonded over their love of the arts, Sarah tending towards drama and Gloria towards music. "So Sarah. What's the news? What's the go? What's the Four One One?"

"There isn't much to tell Glor," Sarah brushed a stray hair out of her face as she looked to her friend. "I slept, read, did some homework and took care of Toby." She sighed in mock depression before turning around so that she could walk backwards and face her friend, "Now that my weekend is out of the way, how about you tell me about this boy you went out with on Saturday night?" Wiggling her eyebrows suggestively and grinning she waited patiently for Gloria to jump into the tale of her rendezvous with her latest beau, a boy with an English accent apparently.

"He's so dreamy Sar, those chocolate brown eyes I get lost in them. I'm pretty sure there should be a song about brown eyes. They're just so… warm." Gloria sighed dramatically and feigned a swoon. Sarah's mind flashed back to her dream and the envelope in her bag, however before Gloria could even notice (to Sarah's great relief) they arrived at school and were swamped by their various other friends.

* * *

Jareth, King of the Goblins had stooped to using his subjects to keep an eye on Sarah, Hoggle had discerned that using the crystals had become addictive for the King and so prescribed that he use the much safer option of sending goblins. That way there wouldn't be any accidentally looking in on an inopportune moment. As Hogwart, ah, Hoggle said, "She's still underage above ground Majesty, you must be careful!" Jareth rolled his eyes at the thought. He'd only accidentally checked on her with a crystal while she was in the shower once, and he'd only stared for one second, two tops. Rubbing his eyes he muttered that the dwarf was right and resolved to not bog him for a week.

Thinking that resolve over he stood abruptly and kicked a willing goblin out of the window, he was getting soft. _Sarah would like soft_ his inner soft side murmured. Summoning his crop Jareth slumped back into his throne, hitching one leg over the arm and tapping his boot with said crop. _Sarah likes boots, I like boots, boots are good_. Jareth summoned the crystal that held the image of Sarah from that morning that the goblin, Helter brought him this morning. She was wearing leather **boots** like his **boots**! He grinned. Leather would definitely be a part of the outfit he chose when they met for the first time again.

"Skelter!" He hollered.

"Yes Majesty?"

"Was the envelope delivered?"

"The 'nvlope was put 'n the Lady's lett'rbox when Helter took the picture your Majesty, Sir."

"Good, good." He tapped his boot with the crop again, grinning to himself.

"Will that be all Mr Majesty Sir?"

"Yes, good, that is all."

Skelter wandered off to find an unsuspecting chicken to collect eggs from leaving a very bored Goblin King to his brooding. He was restless, and had been for some months, after the letter he'd sent her for her sixteenth birthday he'd expected her to do something, anything, but instead here he was, an annual and a few months later and he was still waiting.

So he'd written another letter and now he was waiting, again! Jareth harrumphed in self-pity and flicked a finger, tossing a goblin, who had been singing in a particularly awful manner, out one of the windows and then he sighed, remembering the new anti-goblin cruelty policy that he'd implemented when Sarah went through an animal welfare phase, and crooked the same finger.

Said goblin came sailing back inside, landing safely on his feet before stooping into a failed attempt at a bow. "Thanks Kingy!" He exclaimed before ambling away to somewhere he could sing safely.


End file.
